With Investors on the Change

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 155, 21 September 1927, Page 2

With Investors on the Change

WEEK REVIEWED HEALTHY BUSINESS DONE WEDNESDAY, 9 a m. Healtl y business has .been recorded on the ’Change over the week, though the tone, generally, is quiet. Insurance shares are quiet, though in good tone, and a firm demand ■ x sts for most shares. South British wi-re dealt with at 5Ss and 57s 6d: Standard at 60; New Zealands at 39s 6d Coals have been quieter d oi ig the week, and the demand for Hikurangis has eased slightly. Fukemiros, following the publication of the balance sheet, saw sales in Auckland at 61s and 61s :'d. Waipas were dealt with on Thursday at 15s 9d. In miscellaneous attention has chiefly been directed to Auckland Amusement Park, which were dealt with to 17s, and Wilsons Cement at 365. Most other shares in this section are quiet, and inactive. The gilt-edged section commands little attention and is mostly idle. Mining has been well to the fore on the local ’Change, and the sharp advance and subsequent slight easing of Waihis to a market around 22s has been the main feature. Occidentals have been free sellers on a market up to Is id. but speculators, generally, are shy, and await confirmai ion of the news from the mine. Lucky Snot have eased and most other mining shares are depressed and idle. POSITION OF WANGANUI WOOLLENS Holders of Wanganui Woollens, already pessimistic, received a further set-back by the publication of the company’s balance sheet during the week. The profit and loss account discloses a Joss for the year of £15,260. Much of this is laid at the door of reorganisation costs and writing-down of the company’s buildings, plant and book debts. Hope is 1 *-ld out to shareholders by the directors that since April of this year operations have shown a profit. The position of the Wanganui Company is in no way peculiar to itself; and is yet another indication why investors are shy of woolle ns. BOOTS AND SHOES That all is not well with the boot and shoe industry, even in highly protected countries like the United States, is indicated in a recent advice from that country to the effect that several of the best-known and largest shoe manufacturers there have decided to liquidate. The situation there, it is contended, is to say the least about it, none too good. The large exporting firm of Tiros. O. Plant and Co. has been taken over by the leather and banking interests. Another firm to go under is the one manufacturing the Dorothy Dodd and Queen Quality si oes, operating one of the largest factories :n the world. A. E. Little and Co., manufacturers of the Sorosis shoe, are done, and Rice and Hutchins, Inc., who have been under an extension by the banks, have “thrown up the sponge” and are liquidating. Rice and Hutchins, Inc., all in all were one of the largest concerns in the worldComing from such a so-called prosperous country as the United States, such information indicates that irrespective of the advance :in hides, all is not well in the boot and shoe trade, and that small local factories are not alone in feeling the pinch of competitive trade.